Aria sighed once again; not at all surprised by Brian’s question since this was probably the tenth time that he had asked her out. She kept making excuses to try to gently let it known that she was not at all interested because she didn’t want to hurt Brian’s feelings and flat out reject him, and also because confrontations were never really her forte, but the guy seemed unable to take the hint.
“I am sorry Brian, but I have to work tonight.” she said and turned around, making her way out of there as quickly as possible without being too obvious about it, lest Brian decided to run after her which would not surprise her in the least.
She wasn’t exactly sure why, since Brian was seemingly an okay, good-natured guy, but there was just something about him that always made Aria’s skin crawl.
Maybe she was just being her usual paranoid self and Brian was genuinely interested in her, but she wasn’t even remotely ready to take the chance to find out.
You could never be too careful with people and Aria had learned that particular lesson the hard way.
She was so lost in thoughts that she failed to pay attention to her surroundings which resulted in her running into a man, the impact making him lose hold of the cup of coffee in his hand which then fell and spilled on the concrete ground beneath their feet.
She winced and prepared herself for getting yelled at, the apology already at the tip of her tongue.
“I am so sorry Sir, it was my fault, I wasn’t looking…” but when she looked up at the man that she had bumped into, the words died in her throat as her eyes connected with the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.
A work of art
Will sighed, stretching his back before getting up and making his way into the bathroom to clean himself up, leaving the girl spent in bed.
He took a look at the mirror, his eyes meeting with a familiar handsome face.
He was dangerously close to forties, not that he minded since age was just a number in his book and, after all, he didn’t look a day over thirty.
No, he looked fine, but what did draw his attention were the bags under his eyes and the hollow look in them that he was sure only he could see.
None of his supposed friends saw it and certainly not the blond currently laid out in his bed.
Not that it mattered, he thought, since the girl was just another one in a long line of blonds and brunettes that have passed through this house, writhing and moaning underneath William’s skillful hands for one night, never more, and then forgotten came morning, as if they were never there.
He splashed some water over his heated face, washing the sweat off of it and pretending, for just a second that he could also do that with his morose thoughts.
He filled a glass with water and brought it back to the room and then sat beside the sleeping girl.
He watched her for a few minutes, her face looking so peaceful and sated in her slumber and he couldn’t deny that she was beautiful.
Will was sure that, if he bothered to give her a chance, the girl would be very good to him, but he couldn’t. He had made the mistake of trusting someone once before and after what happened; he could not allow himself to put so much faith into another person again.
~
“Good morning Mr. Jones.”
William heard the greeting before he even had the time to exit the elevator. As soon as he saw her, he smiled at the short, middle-aged woman and nodded.
“Morning, Maria. How are you this morning?” he asked while taking the coffee she was offering him as they walked through the main floor of his apartment building. He opened the glass door and motioned with his hand for her to go before him, which earned him a proud smirk from her.
“I am fine, Mr. Jones. How about you? Slept well?”
“Quite well, thank you. The previous evening was indeed very enjoyable if a bit strenuous.” he said, a smirk playing around the edges of his mouth as she huffed and got into the car; her opinion about William’s nighttime activities as further from positive as possible.
“And, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Will, Maria? It sounds weird when you call me Mr. Jones, I feel ancient, especially since you are older than me.”
There were times in his life when Will was grateful that looks couldn’t kill, especially in his line of competitive work, and the one currently directed his way was definitely one of them.
“Not by much.” she hissed and took her tablet out, furiously typing something and ignoring him for the rest of the trip.
He smiled widely feeling joyful since teasing Maria, his PA, was the highlight of his workday. It was all in good spirit, of course, since there weren’t a lot of people that William held in such high regard as her.
It came as a shock when his father, the great Ezekiel Jones died from a heart attack at the young age of forty-five. He was a well-respected man and an incredible businessman who had built the family company from the ground. Then he died and William had to take over since his younger brother was just eighteen at the time and going away to college and their mother was already out of the picture; gallivanting around the world with her latest boy-toy.
So, there he was, twenty-one years old, barely out of college and as inexperienced as you
